Conventional methods for communicating information over Internet-based multi-media service provider systems, such as systems and services provided by AT&T, can require several Internet Protocols (“IP”), which are used for transporting media and/or control signal information over the multi-media service provider systems. Typically, a mixture of call signaling protocols, such as H.323, Media Gateway Control Protocol (MGCP), Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and proprietary protocols, are used for communicating the signal information between various components of the multi-media service provider systems.
Presently, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is becoming an increasingly popular protocol for transporting both standard and non-standard information in a common framework over Wide Area Networks (WANs). However, Local Area Networks (LANs) hosted by multi-media service providers continue to employ a mixture of call signaling protocols, as well as other proprietary protocols, which may be unique to each multi-media communication service provider system. However, each multi-media communication service provider system operating on a LAN is required to interface with SIP in order to communicate information over the WAN to SIP-enabled communication devices.
Furthermore, as multi-media communication service provider systems continue to offer additional services, there is a need to support preliminary multi-media communications with customers operating at the various SIP-enabled communication devices to collect caller-entered data and to process the caller-entered data to determine if the customer is authorized to receive a requested service.
Therefore, an unsolved need remains for a multi-media communication service provider system, which employs a mixture of call signaling protocols, that is adapted to provide a multi-media interface directly compatible with SIP for supporting preliminary multi-media communications between the multi-media communication service provider system and a number of SIP-enabled communication devices operating on the WAN.